Tuesday’s agenda for the Board of Police Commissioners has a very interesting item on it.

Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck is asking to be reimbursed for a trip to New York where he met with presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. In my world, that’s a no no. Either the campaign picks up the cost or the person attending the meeting does but the public is never asked to.

According to Beck his flight from Los Angeles to New York was $1,500. $1,500. I could fly roundtrip to Europe for that kind of money but I’ve digressed. 😐

Still, it will be interesting to see whether or not Item 1A of the Consent Agenda for Tuesday’s meeting is suddenly pulled from consideration. Something tells me that the commissioners are not at all interested in having to deal with the controversy of yet another ethics violation. But 🐸☕️.

Video of South L.A. Man Being Beat By LAPD Released

Finally.

The Los Angeles Times has procured the video depicting the beat down that then 22-year-old Clinton Alford received courtesy of the LAPD in 2014 in South Los Angeles. This comes after the news was broke that Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey cut a deal on the downlow with the one officer charged in the heinous brutalization.

Under the terms of the deal, Officer Richard Garcia will plead to a lesser charge of felony assault under color of authority and be given a year to complete community service and make a donation to a charity. If all goes well with Garcia, he can come back to court and withdraw his felony plea and plead to a misdemeanor charge. Strangely, neither resignation or termination as a Los Angeles police officer was a part of the deal made with Garcia. For that we have to look to Police Chief Charlie Beck and a Board of Rights disciplinary hearing to make happen.

However, despite the fact that Deputy Dist. Atty. Oscar Plascencia told the judge that “from the get-go, Mr. Alford — you can see in the video — does not threaten the officers in any way, shape or form,” don’t be fooled into thinking for one second that the District Attorney’s office wanted this video to become public. Remember it was the LAPD, District Attorney’s office and City Attorney’s office that conspired to have the video placed under a protective order. Hence, The Times having to go to court to get the video released publicly.

Meanwhile, this same District Attorney’s office made sure to let it be known that Clinton Alford is currently in jail on charges of human trafficking, rape and assault with a deadly weapon. All charges that have nothing to do with his initial 2014 beat down. Alford was picked up on these charges in November of 2015. Yes, that part.

I don’t know the whole story on Friday morning’s fatal shooting of Marcelo Luna in East Hollywood.

According to news reports, Luna was allegedly armed with a “bayonet-style” weapon. His girlfriend told reporters that he took the weapon outside “to feel safe.”

Well a video from the morning of the incident surfaced online late Sunday showing LAPD officers removing their body cameras after being notified that they were being turned on remotely.

I don’t think that’s what the public and city officials had in mind when they outfitted officers with body cameras.

The troubling video is below.

Jasmyne A. Cannick

Jasmyne Cannick is a nationally known writer and commentator on political, race and social issues. She was selected as one of ESSENCE Magazine’s 25 Women Shaping the World, one of the Most Influential African-Americans in Los Angeles Under 40, one of Los Angeles’ Most Fascinating Angelenos by the L.A. Weekly and one of 40 People Under 40 by the Advocate. She’s worked in the U.S. House of Representatives and at all levels of government helping to shape public opinion and encourage civic engagement while advocating for underrepresented and marginalized communities in the political arena. Learn more here.

What do you think?

Stan

They don’t have body cams in Hollywood Jasmyne. The incident is over, so the microphones should be turned off, period. Officers are humans and have rights as well. After such a traumatic event venting is expected and if they don’t want to be recorded in their most emotional moments than they have a right not to.

Video Shows LAPD Officers Removing Body Cameras After OIS
Video is protection of LE from a dishonest public, and protection for the public from dishonest LE. ANY LE officer caught disabling, or obstructing, the video recorder should be fired forthwith.

The incident is over, so the microphones should be turned off, period.
The shooting was over, not the “incident”. The cameras and audio recorders should be worn for as long as it takes at a murder investigation. The cost of recording is close to zero.

bluethru1994

Wrong. Its called the Police Officer Bill of Rights. When officers give any statements, they are entitled to a lawyer or employee rep. The officers are initially ordered to provide a public safety statement where they provide their supervisor with certain required details. When this is done, it should not be recorded. That is why they take off the camera’s and stop recording.

You GED moron, the cameras are for recording ALL interactions with the public, if the cop is interaction with the public, investigating, the cameras MUST be on. Period. The POBOR has nothing to do with it….

exotish

Regarding the Alford incident, one would think maybe one of the other officers on the scene, regardless of whether or not they initiated any kind of legal proceeding against the officer in question, could at least put a hand on his shoulder or otherwise find a way to calm him down and de-escalate his attack on an already subdued person. A little bit of crazy idealism perhaps….!